(open with some closed) I don't ask why they call on me

[blackeyedprince]

Who: Kell Maresh and OTA
When: July and August
Where: Thorne, Nocwich, Horizon, Nott
What: Kell shenanigans, rifts sightings, plight of an aspiring author
Warnings: marked on threads as needed


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Thorne - OPEN

[blackeyedprince]

Kell is keeping himself as busy as he can. Out of his castle room for as long as he can. Sometimes, he doesn't even come back for meals. Not before it gets dark. He's either away, going to Nott with Rhy.
At Yennefer's classes, or holed in a library, hunched over an alchemy book preparing for said classes, with a determined expression. Both trying not to fall asleep, keep his restlessness in check and actually get anything out of it.
What ever time he has left he spends at the Winking Cauldron or running errands delivering any special order they might get either for special occasions or for people who consider going to a teashop beneath them.
Sometimes, when there's no one in the shop, he falls asleep on the counter, because he's just so tired - who would have thought publishing a book is such an involved endeavour - and has to come back to the castle after dark. That's when he's at his most twitchy. Anyone startling him might be met with a tangle of black, smoky tentacles suddenly erupting from the spot. Better be careful as those are mildly poisonous.

teashop - a grey londoner meets a red one

[iustise]

Lord John has been settled in Thorne for long enough that he has more or less learned his way around the castle itself. Being from England, and a Londoner himself, in some ways the castle and its surroundings are comforting in a familiar sort of way -- not that he has been here before but he understands how such cities operate.

It is the magic that is taking some time to adjust to. Not out of any superstition, but simply because the concept of its existence is just so foreign, never mind the idea that he might one day be able to learn it himself.

Tentatively stepping into the shop, he's not certain what he might encounter, with a name like the Winking Cauldron. But it does seem, upon inspection, to be a tea shop, and a frequenter of coffee shops himself, Lord John feels at once at home in this strange little place. Poking around the various bits and bobs, he finds it odd that the shop owner hasn't accosted him as soon as he's stepped across the threshold -- but quickly discovers why, spotting the young man fast asleep across the countertop.

"Ah," he says, before clearing his throat gently. "Sir?" Then louder, "Sir?"

[blackeyedprince]

Kell could swear the bell over the door to the Cauldron was cursed. It didn't matter how many times he fixed it, it never lasted long. What complicated can be in a stupid piece of hollow metal tube hanging on wire? Nothing! He might take it to Viktor one day, if only as a curiosity. It did not help, he wasn't sleeping a lot lately. Between finishing work on publishing his book, his new alchemy lessons, Rhy's Nott hospital project, and his regular duties at the Cauldron, there just wasn't enough time for everything. Something had to give. That something was usually sleep.

The afternoon has been busy, the usual gaggle of gossiping ladies descended on their favourite spot to discuss the current topic of the day. The Fey and strange rifts opening all over the city, and the Summoned - it must be them, who else - connection to both of those happenings. Two hours before the close, Mildred bolted to her lectures cursing her lateness, leaving Kell to man the shop for the remaining time.

He expected for those hours to be slow. He did not expect them to be so slow he'd fall asleep. So the bell does not wake him, a man's voice does. In the space of seconds, before Kell blinks away sleep, gets his bearings, realizes where he is and that someone is really talking to him, chill sets in the air and a faint, grey tendrils of smoke snake down his arms to coil on the countertop looking very ready to strike. Kell shakes his head, the chill and the smoke disappear as if they were never there.

Kell shoots the man a professionally apologetic smile. He can't do much more than that. Mildred cannot criticize what she cannot see. Who comes to a teashop at such hour anyway?

"Good day, sir." It's almost evening. "Please have a sit. I'll be right there to take your order."

[iustise]

Lord John is not unobservant. He may not know much about magic, but he had seen those tendrils of smoke, he had felt the drop in temperature in the air. He understands that he had surprised the young man out of sleep, and yet.

Even though he knows he has been dismissed, he stands there blinking across at the young man, one blue eye and one... Completely black? Wondering whether he had just escaped yet another accidental magical attack.

"Ah." A beat. A tight swallow. "Forgive me. I did not mean to surprise, I just." An apologetic smile. "Did not wish to lurk about in the store, without your knowledge of my presence."

[blackeyedprince]

"And I shouldn't let myself be caught sleeping. Let's consider ourselves even then."

Not that he shouldn't sleep, he shouldn't get caught doing it. The difference might be small, but it's not insignificant. Now that he's more or less awake Kell starts to notice more details. The man is clearly not a native Abraxan, and there's something vaguely familiar in the way he speaks and behaves.

"But you are one of the newly Summoned, am I right?"

He's such a people's person that the man might have been here for months and Kell wouldn't have noticed. Still, it's a better conversation starter than "I'm sorry you almost got attacked by my poisonous smoke that I barely control in my sleep." He's more annoyed than sorry. Another dubious gift from Singularity. When he's not breaking things, or murdering plants with his touch, he unconsciously threatens to strangle people. How wonderful...

can you forgive me for the lateness of this reply? why are bodies

[iustise]

John offers the other man a somewhat sheepish smile.

"Not at all," he allows. "I have already had the misfortune of being swallowed by darkness as another among our number lost their handle on their own abilities. I suppose you might say I have a talent for bringing such things upon myself."

Removing his hat, he offers the younger man a slight bow.

"Lord John Grey, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir," he introduces himself. "I arrived in Thorne several months ago but I fear with all that had just come to pass, with the kidnappings, my own arrival comparatively did not make much of an impression."

Horizon - Open

[blackeyedprince]

The main part of Kell's Horizon - other than forever shifting landscape - has always been a dingy tavern with a sign Kir Ayes swinging over the door. The door opens into a large, but pretty dark space with chairs and tables that carries a sense it should be filled with people.
Sometimes, the door opens straight into a short corridor leading to a staircase. Most of the time, that very same corridor with the very same staircase is at the end of the open room.
The number of floors always changes, with door opening into not only rooms, but whole parts of landscape. A city street, a secluded part of market case, a dark cavern below a river.
The door at the very top of the stairs always opens into a small room with three maps tacked to the walls. Very recently Kell added another room there, an alchemical lab.

Nocwich - Oleuni Square - Closed to Jesper

[blackeyedprince]

There's a tavern in Nocwich, dead center in the Oleuni Square called Bird and A Bee. It's a good place to stay if you want to meet someone from one of the other factions. Doubly so when you are waiting for someone. The sign is so in your face you can't possibly miss it.
It's not the same one where he used to meet with Jayce. Kell can't drag himself there. Still the shadow of those memories hangs over him like a dark cloud when he sits at the table, an untouched beer in front of him next to a book. First one. A test piece he just got from his bookbinder for him to verify if he likes how it's coming together. He hasn't looked at it yet.

[itookashot]

Jesper is in a cheerful mood in comparison, although that is almost always the case. Outside of a few times in Abraxas, he usually is the chipper one of any group, and he is looking forward to getting a chance to see Kell outside of sex. Not that he doesn't love their sex, he does, it's incredible, but Jesper does like to get to know his lovers too. It makes things better. If they only had a one-off he might not have bothered, but this is different.

After a few dozen fucks, it feels right to have a conversation for at least thirty minutes before the clothes come off. Maybe longer if they're having fun flirting. So he finds the place while chitchatting along the way with the natives and merchants. Jesper makes friends no matter what city he's at, he thinks it a shrewd approach.

He's in red today, his coat a bright shade close to Kell's hair, and he slides across the table from Kell. He doesn't think he's late, but it's hard to tell, Jesper does have a sort of 'Jesper time' where he sashays in. But he is an extremely observant person, not that Kell isn't screaming a bad mood at the moment, so his smile turns quizzical. "What's going on?"

[blackeyedprince]

Kell lights up the moment Jesper shows up. He cannot hide his moods or feelings most of the time, even when he tries, which is not now. Too deep in his own thoughts as usual. It's rare for someone to be able to bring him to the surface as fast and as reliably as Jesper does. Kell doesn't know what to do with this observation. Or rather, he's not sure if he has the guts to follow where it might lead him.

"Hi," he greets him with a smile, noticing the bold colour scheme Jesper chose for their meeting. It's just the right shade of red, add gold, and he'll be clad in Arnes' royal colours. As if he knew... "You look good in red." It suits him better than it ever does Kell, who in his own opinion, more resembles a boiled crab in his official attire than anything actually dignified.

Yes, he totally shirked the question. He has absolute mastery of not talking about things that bother him.

[itookashot]

"Baby, I look good in everything." Jesper does like to see the way Kell lights up when he sees him. How can that not go straight to someone's head? Kell is such a sweet thing, hiding that he's not sweet at all in bed with his smile and excitement. Jesper is well aware that he has given Kell something special and that he never really has had this thing in particular before.

"But I did pick red to match you." Jesper looks good in almost every color which often should not be possible but he manages. His clothes back home are usually of different bright shades that don't even match and yet. It's the confidence, he swears, and also, being hot.

He reaches out to snag Kell's hand and holds it, a casual gesture that comes very easily to him. Kell will find he is very fond of small gestures of affection and PDA, threading their fingers together comfortably. "I won't press on that button, but you can talk to me if you want to." AKA he noticed the intentional ignoring and he won't push after this, but he's an open door. Always has been.

objectively hot, them's the facts, i don't make the rules

[blackeyedprince]

"You truly do."

Jesper manages to get a laugh out of Kell with unapologetic awareness of his own hotness. Because he is, objectively, one of the most handsome men Kell has ever met. The confidence plays no small part of it, but only a part. It's truly a small miracle how effortlessly Jesper is able to lift Kell's mood and his mind from the desolate darkness it usually resides in.

He smiles when Jesper takes his hand. Small gestures of genuine affection always catch him unaware, he's so unused to them. So used to the opposite. The smile fades, and Kell bites his lip as he responds. A tick Jesper might already recognize as a sure fire way of telling Kell is in distress, but doesn't want to show it.

"Jayce is gone," he states quietly. "I don't think I want to talk about it. It just ... hurts." He never lost a friend before. Mainly because he never had a friend before. Kell smiles again, but it doesn't reach his eyes this time.

"But we were supposed to go on a date. Have fun. You didn't come to listen to me whine."

[itookashot]

Jesper's been here long enough that losing friends is just one of those things that happens. It doesn't make it easy though. He squeezes Kell's hand tightly at his admission. He knows Jayce Talis is gone, of course, the man was a major part of the Free Cities' Summoned group. No reasonable weapons to be bought now, not that Jesper ever needed it, but he's always liked Viktor. Found him interesting. It's a shame, what happened, and it makes him hold his people a little closer.

"I didn't know you were close. I'm sorry. It's the worst part about being here." And yes he means including gods fucking with their heads and possibly even being captured. He can't speak to that, but loss like this is longer lasting because there is no going home as a group. If he loses his Crows, he'll know that he can find them again some day in Ketterdam. That's not true of Mat.

He lifts Kell's hand and kisses the palm sweetly, soothingly, before going back to holding it comfortably. "We can talk about anything you want, sweetheart. There aren't really any rules to my dates, I simply go with the flow." Jesper assumes there are some date codes that people go by, but he's not a normal person. He does what he wants.

"But this is your first date, right?" He thinks it's a fair assumption. Kell's new to a lot of courting things. "So it's dealer's choice, Kell. What do you want to do?"

Thorne - special delivery with a rift sighting - Closed to Kyle

[blackeyedprince]

It's already late and the delivery is to the manor far, at the other side of the city. Kell knows it will already be dark when he reaches the place. Completely dark on his way back. While, the prospect of waling the empty streets in the dark does not root him in spot anymore, it is deeply unpleasant. He knows he's easy to startle when he's this unnerved and it already has caused him no small amount of trouble when he accidentally set a man's cape on fire because they poor guy walked up at him while turning a corner.
He can't really drop this delivery, because more than ever, he needs every copper.

So he reached out to Kyle for help.

[ushiri]

Kahlil is happy to help. Since the sun's begin to set it means he can practice a small Academic Magic incantation, one meant to conjure an ball of light the size of an orange. It floats close to the ground ahead of him as they walk, casting a pale blue light against the cobblestones, bobbing slightly in time with his steps.

"Who's this one for?" he asks, referring the the delivery. Last time it'd been for the blacksmith and her wife, which had started off on a bad foot... but ended well.

[blackeyedprince]

Last time, Kell ended with one of his best contacts. The blacksmith made most of his jewellery for the Fey ball. Nobody could tell it wasn't silver.

He doesn't expect anything this interesting now. The order looked boring...if not for one detail.

"Some rich noble dude," he explains. "They always send a servant to the shop for pickup. This time they ordered a custom blend and demanded I bring it myself. Honestly, I don't know what to think about it. It's a bit weird."

[ushiri]

Kahlil hums at that. He's ambivalent about Thorne's nobility at best. They aren't as cutthroat as the guan'im houses, but that's a high bar - and there's still the queen they serve, who is absolutely ruthless.

The street is relatively empty, not a surprise at this time of night outside of certain quarters of the city. He's about to ask if Kell would like to pop into one of those late-open taverns on the way back for something to eat when a strange flash appears from his right, almost like a camera's light.

"Did you see..." he starts, immediately going tense and stopping in place.

[blackeyedprince]

There it is. A sensation that pulls him from idle musings about the nature of the order and right into the present moment. Mere seconds before Kyle stops them. Like static in the air just before the lightning strikes. And a lightning does strike.
Kell looks for the source of it and his eyes go wide just as Kyle starts speaking.

A rip opens, sparkling and electric, with a sudden burst of light, raising all the tiny hairs on his arms, making his skin crawl in a way that no simple lightning does. Only magic.

"I see," he responds, unable to tear his eyes from the rip. He would swear he sees a shape there, something moving. "Something is there."

Not the most detailed description, but Kell can't make out any sense out of the shape. Then a leg emerges from the rip, solid, animal-like. He can't put it on any animal he knows. Saints, what is that?! He's all tense now, doesn't even realize when a tiny flickering flame engulfs his right hand, clenched into a fist. All his nerves screaming danger, and yet his curiosity stops him from striking first. What is it?! How did it get here? What is going on?

going with a different animal...

[ushiri]

The creature is, to Kahlil, an amalgam of creatures: hare, hawk, deer. As it steps into the street it opens its jaws to reveal a pair of large canines, its wings fanning out to make itself larger...

"Kell, wait -" he catches the flicker of flame in Kell's hand and puts an arm out between him and the strange beast. It arches its back like a cat, fur and wings puffed out. Despite all this, it's not much bigger than a small dog.

"I think it's frightened."

A mystery from the Masquerade revealed - Closed to Mat

[blackeyedprince]

Kell had no expectations of how his first book will look. His printer, the young lady he ended hiring, asked him so many questions he had no answers to when they first talked that she gave up getting anything out of him and just straight proposed she'd make him a test copy so he can make his mind if he likes it or not.

This is the one Kell finally brought to Mat to both get his opinion and let him be the first to read the final version. Kell thinks Mat fully deserves it, being the original inspiration, and all around supporting Kell through the whole process with his endless calm and patience. In the end, there are five stories. Kell had, as usual, agonized over titles for them until he got fed up with himself and just left the last version he kind of liked.

He is blissfully unaware that the book he finally delivers to Mat contains not one, but two stories inspired by him and it is so happens they are the first and the last one. It's right there in the table of contents. The one about a Fey ball, a handsome lord and a maze of roses.

[a_better_man]

Mat has been eagerly awaiting this. Someone wrote about him in a book! Yes, yes, a story-version of him, but it's still him. That's a very exciting thing! And everyone said he'd never amount to anything...

He's a dashing hero in a romance tale. That's something.

Of course he reads all the stories. Kell values his creative opinion. Besides, it's a good book and it's something new. Mat's always looking for something new to read. It's become one of his favorite pleasures, reading a book by lamplight in bed before going to sleep.

Only he encounters something unexpected when he reads through the rest. Another story sounds extremely familiar. And it's this one he has the book open to when he goes to give Kell his feedback.

"Fantastic book, quite enjoyed, but listen...I've got a question about that last story..."

[blackeyedprince]

Kell is shamelessly soaking all the praise he can get. He's still not sure what general reception of his work would be, so any words of support are a salve to his wracked nerves. The order of the stories went through some many iterations, that at this point he doesn't remember which story he put where. So he suspects nothing.

"Sure, what would you like to know?"

[a_better_man]

"This one..." He holds the book out.

"Might I ask what the inspiration was? Obviously the party in the Feywilds, but...is this something someone told you about, or...?"

Or were you the lady who's mouth I thoroughly explored in the garden? is Mat's unasked question. He'd hardly gone out of his way to identify everyone he danced or flirted or had a bit of mild fun with. Most of them he had no idea about.

Including the lady in the garden maze.

[blackeyedprince]

Kell doesn't have to take a look at the book. The moment Mat mentions Feywilds, he knows.

"Oh, this one! That's wholly mine," he declares with glee. "I'm actually quite happy how it turned out. I think it catches all the major points of a traditional romance tale."

A few months ago Kell wouldn't know. A few months ago he wouldn't be caught dead reading this kind of stuff, let alone writing or discussing it. Now, in no small part thanks to Mat's unconditional support, Kell considers himself a bit of an expert on the subject. He read tons of stories. Some of them, the better ones, were in fact supplied by Mat.

"Did you like it?"

So engrossed he is in the technical side of the finished piece, that he fails to notice the true reason Mat is asking his question. He read it so many times during writing and editing, that in his head the story is completely divorced from the very real events that inspired it, and he forgets how little he has changed them in retelling.

[a_better_man]

"...Is that so?"

Mat's lips twitch as he tries to contain himself. The last thing he wants is Kell to think he's laughing at him. He is not. He is laughing - or trying not to laugh - at the situation.

Which is abjectly hilarious.

"I very much did enjoy it, and it very much is a classic romance, but ah...I feel you should know a little something....Oh fuck it, I won't be an ass and draw it out any." Mat is not cruel, not to so dear a friend as Kell.

"I was the fancy stag that night."